News Release

Elections New Brunswick reschedules municipal byelections for Dec. 10

19 October 2018

FREDERICTON (GNB) – Elections New Brunswick has reconsidered plans to postpone municipal byelections until next spring and will now hold them on Monday, Dec. 10.

The decision to reschedule the byelections follows discussions with the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick. The group expressed concern about a number of communities that have not officially declared their vacancies, but which are experiencing a loss of quorum or are at risk of losing quorum.

“I listened to the concerns raised by the union,” said chief electoral officer Kim Poffenroth. “My responsibility is to ensure communities have governments, municipal or provincial, that are elected and able to effectively serve their residents.”

As of today, there are 20 municipalities across the province which have officially declared one or more council vacancies. Elections New Brunswick is aware of two other municipalities where vacancies exist. However, the chief electoral officer is unable to schedule byelections until she receives official notification from the local council.

Communities with declared council vacancies are:

Alma (one councillor);

Aroostook (mayor and one councillor);

Bathurst (one councillor);

Beaubassin East, (councillors for wards 3 and 4);

Dalhousie (one councillor);

Doaktown (mayor);

Florenceville-Bristol (one councillor for ward 2);

Hartland (one councillor);

Lac Baker (one councillor);

Minto (mayor);

Moncton (one councillor for ward 3);

Nackawic (one councillor);

Rexton (one councillor);

Rivière-Verte (one councillor);

Sackville (one councillor);

Saint Andrews (one councillor);

Salisbury (one councillor);

St. George (one councillor);

Sussex Corner (mayor and one councillor); and

Tracadie, (councillors for wards 1, 2 and 7).

“Our capacity to prepare simultaneously for the municipal byelections and for a potential provincial general election remains a significant challenge to our human resources,” said Poffenroth. “However, my staff is confident that we will be able to prepare for these municipal byelections, so long as further resources are available to continue preparations for an unscheduled provincial election.”

Nominations for the municipal byelections close at 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16. However, in municipalities with mayoralty vacancies, any current councillor who wishes to resign his or her seat to offer as a candidate for mayor must provide written notice to the chief electoral officer no later than Oct. 26, as required by the Local Governance Act.